Regular readers of The Fatima Crusader know that for the past several years certain members of the Vatican bureaucracy have been attempting to silence this apostolate by forcing Father Nicholas Gruner to return to the Diocese of Avellino, where he was ordained 24 years ago.

Their plan was very simple: (1) order Father Gruner to find another bishop to incardinate him; then (2) prevent any bishop in the world from incardinating Father Gruner, then (3) accuse Father Gruner of “disobedience” in “failing” to find another bishop, and finally (4) order him to return to Avellino under threat of suspension from the priesthood.

Three successive bishops offered to incardinate Father Gruner in a diocese other than Avellino. Yet all three were directed not to honor their offers by the same Vatican officials who were carrying out this plan to silence the apostolate.

In essence, these bureaucrats have contrived to punish Father Gruner for a situation they themselves have created: Having ordered him to find another bishop, they then prevented him from finding one! What sort of justice is this?

However, their plan encountered a major snag: One of the three bishops who wished to incardinate Father Gruner and sponsor his work, the Archbishop of Hyderabad, decided he could no longer tolerate such improper coercion by Vatican bureaucrats. Early last year the Archbishop issued a decree affirming his incardination of Father Gruner and granting Father Gruner permission to engage in the work of this apostolate—which supports an orphanage in the Archbishop’s territory. (The same Archbishop courageously consented to be the first signatory on this apostolate’s Open Letter To The Holy Father, published April 2, 1998 in Il Messaggero, Rome’s largest daily newspaper.)

The Vatican bureaucrats’ response? They simply declared that this valid incardination is “non-existent”! In other words, if even an archbishop does not bow to their improper demands, the bureaucrats will simply declare his  actions  null  and void. Nothing will stand in their way.

How can they do this? Believe it or not, they have declared (in papers filed in Father Gruner’s canonical case) that they have the right to prevent Father Gruner’s incardination because they act with the “vicarious” authority of the Pope himself and are the hierarchical superiors of every bishop in the Catholic Church. That is, they consider themselves de facto Popes!

On November 22, 1999 Father Nicholas Gruner submitted to the Holy Father a formal canonical recourse and complaint against these bureaucrats, along with a three page cover letter to the Holy Father. These two documents, and further letters to His Holiness on April 20, 2000 and August 31, 2000 (confirming the Pope’s acceptance of the canonical complaint under Church law) are now presented for your review, as faithful supporters of our work.

No other priest in Church history has been treated in this unjust manner. In a Church that is teeming with faithless, heretical and immoral clergy who escape all punishment, it is a scandal that one faithful Marian priest is subjected to such unprecedented persecution. Even the heterodox Hans Kung remains a priest in good standing in Switzerland, even though he has publicly condemned the Pope as a dictator!

It is obvious that a concerted worldwide effort is underway to silence this apostolate because it refuses to agree with the lie that Fatima is over and done with. Father Gruner’s case is now in the Pope’s hands. Please, pray that the Holy Father finally intervenes to put a stop to this insane persecution of Father Gruner.

Letter to His Holiness Pope John Paul II

Recourse to the Supreme Pontiff

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